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PS 3535 
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H47 
COPY 1 



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HER NAVAJO LOVER 






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LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Copies Received 

JAN 2 1904 

Copyngfit Entry 



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Copyright 1903 
by W. H. Robinson. 
All rights reserved. 



OBERT, do you know that 
the Welles actually, actually, 
have a Chinaman for a nurse 
girl?" 

"1 am sure there is nothing 
remarkable about that." I re- 
plied with cheerful prevarica- 
tion. "Mrs. Dearsley has a 
iPima Indian boy who not only washes the 
jdishes, but also washes Mrs. Dearsley's hair." 
'Impossible!" cried Catharine. 
'My witness is unimpeachable," I rejoined. 
*I had it from Mrs. Dearsley herself." 
I We were sitting in the private dining-room of 
the "Owl." The dinner was the epitome of 
culinary art according to How Gee. and How 
Gee was, on the whole, the best chef Charlie 
Dick and Co. ever had. Nine months' resi- 
dence in Arizona had quite reconciled me 
to How's combination of Spanish, French, and 
Chinese cookery, but Catharine, who had 
I arrived only the day before, was disposed to 
be critical. 

*To think of your having to endure this nearly 
la year," she said with a furtive look at the 
flapping blouse of our Chinese waiter. **Cer- 
tainly we shall keep house." 
And that was what brought us to the question 
that f ollovirs one to the uttermost parts of the 
earth. Where ivould we find some one to 
prepare our dinners, and who would wash 
our dishes? 

"It will be necessary," I continued, "to find 
two girls somewhere. You must have a good 
cook in the kitchen, and a responsible maid to 
look after the front part of the house, and 
relieve you of some of the care of Bruce and 
Louise." 







"But where can they be found?" asked Catha- 
rine, in dispair. 

"Why not try Mexican town?" I ventured. 
The suggestion was followed, and after a 
iveek's diligent search we were rewarded 
by the discovery of— Anita. 
"She used to %vork for Mrs. Weston," said 
Catharine, "and Mrs. Weston says she is 
amiable and ivilling." 

She w^as, and more. Her sponsor had been 
much too modest in her recommendation. She 
brought to our kitchen the graces of a belle of 
Seville. She had a perfect olive complexion, 
dark eyes, hair that might have belonged to 
the daughter of a Castilian don, a gracefully 
rounded form, and the dainty hands and feet 
that are alike the heritage of patrician and 
peon in the land of Manana; a voice that called 
back the guitars of Andalusia, and a face that 
fold of Moorish castles as well as Aztec 
temples. 

As an ornament Anita Acosta surpassed our 
most sanguine expectations, but as a cook- 
She could make good tortillas, fair chili-con- 
carne, and impossible tamales. Beyond that 
her skill did not attempt to essay. She talked 
of enchaladas, but ive begged her to refrain. 
Could she make bread? 
"No puedo, senora." 
Broil steak? 
"No, senora." 
Boil potatoes? 
"No." 

But ^ve discovered that, although she knew 
but little of the art of w^ashlng dishes, she was 
a master in the science of breaking them; and, 
while she could iron clothes only passably, 
she could steal them superbly. 

2 



During the first v^^eek of tier stay witli us slie 
must tiave added to tlie wardrobe of tlie Casa 
de Acosta enougli towels, napkins, sheets and 
handkerchiefs to have fairly embarrassed it 
ivith riches. 

One afternoon she announced tearfully that 
her maifsma was muy enf erma; that she must 
go home at once, but would return at five. 
Catharine noticed that even Anita's usual 
plumpness had increased snost suspiciously 
during the last hour. Catharine insisted on a 
search; Anita's leave-taking could brook no 
delay. Catharine is not large, Anita is not 
small; Catharine under the excitement of the 
moment, superinduced by Arizona traditions, 
and the proximity of the family gun, produced 
the latter, and a search was instituted under 
some intimidation. As a result, half a dozen 
doilies and Catharine's most treasured center- 
piece w^ere saved for our future use, and lost 
forever to the f an&ily of Acosta. Anita left In 
tears. 

The explanations and diplomacy necessary 
to avoid the Issuance of a warrant against 
Catharine on the charge of murderous assault 
occupied my entire time for the two days next 
ensuing the exit of Anita. 

"Why not try a Chinaman?" I suggested, after 
the storm had blown over. 
"Never!" 

"We might secure Colonel Wellcs's nurse 
girl," I ventured. 

I shall never mention to Colonel Welles, my 
wife's reply. 

For a v^eek v^e took our dinners at the hotel, 
and Catharine prepared breal<fast and lunch- 
eon herself; but the thermometer registered a 
daily maximum ranging from 105 to 115, and 



I had to carry Louise, and so, on the advice 
of Charlie Dick & Co., we tried— Tucic Hing. 
Tucic's aprons were spotless, his charge ot the 
kitchen was complete, and Catharine's respon- 
sibility for things culinary vanished as if by 
magic. The problem was solved. 
It is true that Tuck left the house as soon as 
the dinner dishes ivere out of the ivay, and 
could be found at any time thereafter until one 
in the morning sitting before "Senator" 
Burke's faro bank at the "Palace;" but, as I told 
Catharine, we could not expect everything 
from a servant. 

Hoivever, late hours, coupled with bad luck, 
finally got on Tuck's nerves. 
"What for you all time ivant eggs for break- 
fast? I tell boy bring chops." 
"No. Too ivarm for chops," entreated Catha- 
rine. But we had chops just the same. 
"Too hot bake bread. Get bread from bakery;" 
and thereafter we ate baker's bread. 
"No work for thirty-five dollars any more. 
Hotel, he give me fifty." We compromised on 
forty-five, and in spite of Catharine's protes- 
tations kept the cook. 

A few days later Catharine ventured into the 
kitchen in search of a broom. Tuck's personal 
clothing was a soak in the breadpan, and the 
Chinaman w^as mixing cake in the dishpan, 
w^hose condition may be left to the imagina- 
tion of the reader; and ten minutes later a 
forty-five dollar chef was looking for a 
position as cook in a small family where the 
bread vi^as bought from the baker, and the 
vi^ashing ivas sent out. 

"Robert," said Catharine, after a respite of 
seven days, "I am going to try an Indian." 
I made no reply, but was prepared for the 



worst. "Mrs. Dorrington has a girl from the 
Indian School, and she says she is a jeivel. 
I wouldn't expect one to be able to do much 
cooking, but she could wash dishes, and 
scrub, and launder the clothes. I'll try the 
experiment, anyway." 

Catharine went out to the Government Indian 
School. "Yes," said the Superintendent, "it is 
a vacation with us, and I think I can get you a 
fairly good girl." 

When I came home thaf night the experiment 
was in the kitchen. I inquired of Catharine 
what we should call her, expecting to hear a 
name that was musical, and perhaps mystic 
as well, wrhich a primitive and imaginative 
people had used to clothe a poetic idea. 
"She says her name is Mary Broivn," res- 
ponded Catharine bluntly, "and she looks it. 
But," she added, "if she isn't handsome, the 
Superintendent says she is good, and she has 
an arm like a blacksmith's." 
Our education in Indian lore progressed 
rapidly during the next few months, and our 
traditions suffered. We had always read that 
an Indian was stoical. So he is ivhen on 
parade, but Mary would sit out by the fence 
on summer evenings, gossiping with Mrs. 
Dorrington's Maricopa Effie, and giggle by 
the hour. 

An Indian is popularly supposed to have very 
loose ideas of ownership. I have heard it 
stated that anything one may have in his yard, 
and not nailed, offers an irresistible tempta- 
tion to a perapetic aborigine, and that a red- 
hot stove is presumed to present no insur- 
mountable obstacle to an Indian of an acquisi- 
tive disposition. Here permit me to aver that 
neither Mary nor any of her race whom we 

6 



have employed, have ever, to our knoivledge, 
stolen from us a single chattel. 
Who ever saw In the pages of Indian ro- 
manticists the portrait of an Indian vocalist? 
But Mary could sing like a vaudeville star, 
and whistle like a newsboy. 
"Where, O where, do you suppose Mary 
learned those songs?" asked Catharine in 
amazement. It was a Sunday morning in 
June; Mary had wakened with the dawn— it is 
remarkable how early the dawn comes on a 
June morning in Arizona,— we were trying to 
sleep, and Mary was trying to sing, and 
Victory was perching high on Mary's banner. 
She w^as lying on her cot out in the yard, sing- 
ing the popular songs of the last twenty years 
with geological regularity, and she never 
slighted a verse. 

She started in the Archaean age with "Cricket 
on the Hearth," then came the Paleozoic with 
"Grandfather's Clock," and so on up through 
"Silver Threads among the Gold," "After the 
Ball," "Two Little Girls in Blue," "Sweet 
Marie," "Dolly Gray," and "Hiawatha," but 
praises be to Allah she drew the line on coon 
songs. 

TTic Pimas tell how, one day, when they were 
at war with the Apaches, and the Pima braves 
were all away, the Apaches raided one of 
their villages; and while they spared the 
children they murdered every squaw in 
camp. Why their devilishness should take 
this particular form had never been quite 
understood. It occurred to me that Sunday 
morning that if Mary's musical ability was a 
conunon trait of Pima women, and if the 
Apaches had ever heard them sing their action 
was more than excusable. 



We afterivard learned that Mary would hear 
a song, absorb the air, and then buy the music 
and learn every word ol every verse; for 
Mary had been at school three years, and 
could spell out the words of a letter or story 
fairly well. 

Another accomplishment of Mary ivhich de- 
serves special mention was her gum-chewing. 
With her it was an art, and the culminating 
point would be reached when she would bring 
her jaws together with a snap, and the gum 
would crack like a young cannon-cracker. 
When she and Eft ie gossiped, every pause in 
the giggles would be punctuated by a report 
w^hich brought to mind the closing hours of a 
Chinese New Year. 

**Mary has too much to do," announced Catha- 
rine one evening. 

**Then w^hy don't you take her gum away and 
send Effie home?" 1 essayed, with what 
Catharine calls an ill timed attempt at levity. 
**Now, Robert, be serious. She has too much 
work to do, and you say every day that I need 
a maid for the front part of the house. What 
would you say to my getting another Indian 
girl?" 

"Well," I ventured, "a duplicate of Mary 
would certainly harmonize beautifully with 
the hall portieres." 

"If w^e could get a girl who would be as good 
to the children as Mary has been, we ivould 
be very fortunate," retorted Catharine. Mr. 
Blaisdale," she continued, "says there is a 
Pueblo girl here, who has been educated at 
Carlisle, w^hom he thinks we could get. She 
is smart, well-educated, and pretty." 
"Sounds something like Anita's reconunenda- 
tion," I suggested. 



"You know Indian girls don't steal," replied 
Catharine indignantly. 

"Our Indian girls," I amended. "It's your re- 
fining influence, Catharine." 
"Then let us hope that Lilly, also, will reflect 
my virtues." 

There was nothing left for me to say, and Lilly 
was sent for and arrived duly. 
Mary was quite the average Indian, but Lilly 
was exceptional. Her complexion was lighter 
than most Indians, her features were regular, 
and she carried herself well. She had the 
abundant hair of an Indian, but its texture 
was unusually fine. She spoke English 
fluently, without the little pause between 
words that is nearly always noticeable in the 
conversation of the school Indian, and her 
voice ivas loiv-pitched and melodious. She 
had one trait rarely found in an Indian; she 
was neat. This was all the more apparent 
after three months of Mary, for neatness w^as 
not one of Mary's virtues. Mary was evident- 
ly so closely allied to the soil of her ancestral 
desert that she could not long endure a 
separation. 

After a v/eek's trial Catharine announced in 
triumph, "Lilly can actually see when there is 
dust on the piano, and will wipe it off without 
being told;" and, though unbelievable, it was 
so. 

Soon after Lilly was added to our household, 
our next-door neighbor employed an Indian 
boy to take care of his yard and stable. Juan 
was a well built, good-looking Navajo boy, 
who had picked up a Mexican name some 
place, and who had the educational advan- 
tages of tivo years at Albuquerque and one 
year at the Phoenix school. His family had 

10 



large holdings of sheep and goats on the 
Navajo reservation, and among the Indian 
girls of the tov\'n Juan was held to be a most 
eligible young bachelor. 

We had noticed some time before that, in 
matters of gallantry among the Indian ser- 
vants, the girls were quite as apt to take the 
initiative as the boys, and we observed that 
Juan was often the recipient of mementoes of 
tender regard from the hands of our girls. 
Mary w^as the more ardent wooer, but her ad- 
vances had not the polish and grace of Lilly's 
attentions, and, as Lilly gradually seemed to 
find more favor in the eyes of her hostler 
brave, Catharine looked for trouble from our 
Pocahontas of the kitchen. **You know hoi\^ 
terrible Indians are in their jealousy," she 
warned. 

"Yes," I assented, "in novels; but among our 
aboriginal Phoenix don^estics, Catharine, I 
have never noticed that homicide or even 
sanguinary assault is the necessary culmina- 
tion of unrequited love." 

And so it proved; for, after it became evident 
that Lilly was the favored one, Mary accepted 
her defeat like a Stoic pihiloscpher and re- 
turned to her old habits, and chew^ed gum 
w^ith Effie under the umbrella trees, and Lilly 
wrent down to the Plaza band concerts with 
Juan. 

There ivas one thing which troubled us; while 
our new? type, the school-educated li-adian ser- 
vant girl, might combine a hundred virtues, 
there was room for suspicion that, like Trilby, 
she lacked one, and, aialii<i>iuyii as constant as 
Penlope to him she loved, as long as conjugal 
affection lasted, in case of a serious quar- 
rel, affections w^ere transferred ivifh startling 

11 



facility. 

"I don't believe Lilly is like these other girls," 
said Catharine, "and I think that the regard 
that she and Juan have lor each other is a 
genuine love affair, and they ought to marry 
each other in a civilized fashion." 
I agreed heartily. 

"That's just the thing," said Catharine with 
warming enthusiasm. "We will give them 
just as pretty a wedding as any one might 
want. It ivlll be the salvation of Juan and 
and Lilly, and have a splendid influence over 
all these young girls." 

It was a good idea, and I think I manifested 
enough interest over it to satisfy even Catha- 
rine, only I suggested that the principals in 
the case might have something to say about 
it themselves. However, Catharine had a 
way of carrying out her undertakings and I 
was quite prepared to have her inform me 
the next evening that it was entirely settled. 
"Whoivas it named the day?" I asked curi- 
ously. There ivas no coercion about it, was 
there. Catharine?" 

"1 set the date, of course. Don't be silly. Of 
course there was no coercion, and if there had 
been it would have been entirely justifiable." 
In spite of my apprehensions the courtship 
ran the way true love should go. Juan and 
Lilly were left pretty much to their own 
devices. It w^as too warm for very ardent 
wooing. After a succession of days when the 
sun is so hot that it withers grass and flowers 
and turns brown the leaves of the pepper 
trees; when at night the clouds come up and 
cover the sky in the vain attempt to bring 
rain, and hold down the stifling heat like a 
great blanket, it is hard for true lovers, be 

12 



their skins red or white, to bring their 
thoughts higher than cooling drinlcs or ices. 
It was part of Lilly's duties to help Mary with 
the dinner dishes, but Mary w^ould usually 
send her off, and tell her to go and find Juan; 
and then Lilly w^ould array herself in a fresh 
dress, and as soon as the sun w^as down, seat 
herself on the Bermuda grass by the side of 
the house, aw^ay from the trees, to get any 
coolness there might be in a passing breeze. 
Soon Juan w^ould appear, sometimes neatly 
dressed in a pair of dark trousers, a blue 
shirt, and a f fowling tie, and fairly clean; but 
often, to tell the truth, looking rather dis- 
reputable, and shoiving both perspiration and 
Irritation, induced by the 114 degrees of 
fahrenheit of the past few hours. 
Sometimes they w^ould take a wralk. If they 
had money they w^ould generally stroll 
leisurely dow^n to the "Wave," and there 
regale themselves with ice cream sodas, or 
iced watermelon. Occasionally they would 
stay at home, and sit on the kitchen porch, 
swing their feet over the edge, and indulge in 
a good deal of laughter and rough badinage, 
not far different from that enjoyed by rustic 
swains of our own race. Mary w^ould %vatch 
these proceedings w^ith unmoved equanimity, 
and occasionally join in their levity, and u^as 
quite able to hold her own with them in rep- 
artee, in spite of her limited education. But 
%vhile the evenings were given over to rest 
and recreation, as the time set for the u^ed- 
ding approached, the days grew more and 
more strenuous. In order to get the advan- 
tage of the comparative cool wrhlch came w^ith 
the breeze at the daw^n, the only hour of the 
twenty-four urhen the stifling mid-sununer 

14 



heat of the desert nvas tempered, Catharine 
and Lilly %vere up u^Ith the sun, and with the 
aid of a seamstress were hard at work on the 
trousseau. 

I ivas afraid that Catharine ^vould make her- 
self ill over the work of preparation, but she 
seemed to enjoy it, and said I ought to be will- 
ing to allow her at least one dissipation to 
take her mind away from the heat. 
A week before the appointed day Catharine 
announced that the last stitch had been taken, 
and that it was high time to begin the other 
work of preparation. The ceremony was to 
take place in the afternoon at five, a little 
reception was to follow, and at seven a supper 
to the Indian friends of the bride and groom 
was to be served on the lawn. 
As I attempted to explain matters to Juan, I 
was not sure whether he was simply bashful, 
or was becoming bored with the ivhole matri- 
monial arrangement. 

**Now, Juan, when people marry," I explained 
gravely, "the friends of the bride— that's 
Lilly,— provide her trousseau— that's her 
clothes— and pay all expenses of the ceremony, 
except that the groom— that's you— gets the 
marriage license, provides a ring, and pays 
the minister." 

"How much money do I have to pay?" asked 
the happy groom, his lace as Joyous as an 
undertaker's. 

"Any amount you wish," I replied cheerfully. 
"You might talk to Dr. Gates about that. 
Perhaps he will not charge you anything." 
"I did ask heem," said Juan; "and he said he 
would charge me five dollars." It was 
evident that Dr. Gates was not going to allow 
sentiment to stand in the way of frugality. 

15 



still I was somewhat Impatient at Juan's 
solemn lace, and said, perhaps with some Irri- 
tation, "Well, she is worth it. Isn't she? Lilly 
Is the nicest Indian girl In Arizona, and you 
ought to be mighty glad to get her; besides, 
expenses of this kind only come once in a 
lifetime." 

Juan never smiled. "White men get married 
more times. Judge Ross get married three 
times," and looked actually saturated with 
gloom. 

I was getting angry. "Confound It, boy, what 
difference does that make to you. You're only 
to get married once now, anyway, and If you 
are not ^vllUng to put five dollars Into It you 
would better not get married. Lilly's mis- 
tress has paid out a hundred dollars for her." 
Juan's face ivas like the Sphinx, and I leit him. 
1 did not detail the conversation to Catharine. 
She had plenty to worry about as It was. 
However, I talked it over with Juan the next 
day, and he was much less funereal. 
But 11 we were a little disappointed In Juan, 
Lilly ivas a delight. She was in a flutter of 
excitement from morning till night, busy at 
something every minute. She was to take 
entire charge of the flowers, and Catharine 
declared that Lilly's taste was as good as her 
oivn. 

We all found plenty to do, and when the 
wedding day came at last 1 did not pretend to 
go down to the office at all, and accepted 
meekly the position of porter and gentleman 
in ivaiting on the bride that was to be. 
Lilly did famously with the flowers. Sprays 
of pepper branches, bright red bunches of 
pepper berries, pink knots of La France roses 
from our garden, and smilax and carnations 

16 



from California, under tier slcillf ul fingers did 
wonders for tlie liouse. 

Juan wasn't mucti in evidence. Wtien lie did 
show himself he looked as though he felt that 
his part of the performance was similar to the 
place occupied by the fatted calf in the feast 
to the Prodigal Son. 

At four o'clock I discovered that he had for- 
gotten all about the license, and sent him 
down to the Probate Judge's office to get it, 
and Juan sauntered leisurely doivn the street. 
He was evidently taking an Indian's time for 
it, for at quarter to five he was still absent. 
Guests were arriving, the bride was getting 
nervous, and the minister was cross. Mary 
was the only placid person in the house. In 
fact, for the past tivo days she had patronized 
everybody connected with the ceremony, and 
was evidently regarding it all with cynical 
amusement. 

"I will go and get Juan," she said with her 
most stolid Pima air. 

"Do," urged Catharine eagerly, "and for good- 
ness sake be sure that he has the ring." 
Five o'clock came, but no Mary or Juan. The 
little French clock with the gilded shepherd- 
ess ticked away thirty minutes more and still 
they did not come. I had been standing at the 
gate for an hour, and just as the clock struck 
six 1 saw them turn a corner and come down 
the middle of the street, hand in hand, both 
giggling like school children; but by the time 
they reached the house Juan had again re- 
sumed the impenetrable mask of an Indian on 
parade. 

They followed me into the house without a 
ivord. "What in the world was the matter?" 
I inquired as they reached the parlor. "We 

18 



have been waiting for an hour, and began to 
think you did not want to get married." 
Juan looked gravely over the assembled com- 
pany with all the expression ot a tobacco- 
nist's wooden Indian. He seemed to appre- 
ciate the tact that he occupied the center of 
the stage; then with the inimitable speech ot 
the school Indian, with a short pause between 
each word, he announced, "I - am - married! 
I - just - married - Mary!" 

Everybody looked properly horrified, and 
Mary giggled. 

Catharine's face ivas white. **What does this 
mean?" she demanded sternly. 
Juan explained, and his voice was as matter- 
of-fact as though he were telling how- he shot 
a coyote or what he had for'dinner. 
The reader will kindly insert the little pause 
betw^een each word. "It would cost me five 
dollars to marry Lilly, and the ring, and the 
license. Mr.Landon" (the Probate Judge) "say 
he marry me for two dollars. Mr. Gates make 
me pay live. Mary said if I marry her she 
pay the two dollars, and I could have her 
ring— and I marry her," and Juan looked as 
though he had done the only thing possible 
under the circumstances. 

I never saw Catharine come so near hysterics 
in her life. She certainly laughed, and then 
she cried, and then we looked over to Lilly. 
I had been wondering while Juan was deliv- 
ering his startling news whether he or Mary 
ivould be the victim of her rage, and looked 
cautiously to see that no knile or other pos- 
sible weapon tvas within her reach. But Lilly 
wasn't looking for a knife; instead, Mary was 
offering an olive branch to her in the shape 
ot tuti fruti chewing-gum, and Lilly was 

19 



accepting the same in the spirit in which it 

^vas tendered. 

"I don't care," she said most nonchalantly. I 

wouldn't marry a man as stingy as Juan any- 

w^ay; besides, I've got my pretty clothes, and 

another beau in Albuquerque." 

"What will you do with your guests and your 

supper, Catharine?" I gasped, noiv almost 

beyond talking. 

"The only thing there is leit to do," laughed 

Catharine hysterically. "Feed one to the 

other; but 1 am afraid our Pima has usurped 

the place of honor. You know, Robert, victory 

always did perch on Mary's banner." 

"And where does Dr. Gates come in?" asked 

some one. But Dr. Gates did not come in; Dr. 

Gates had gone home. 



Here ends "Her Navajo Lover," by W. H. Robin- 
son. Pictures cut on wood by F. Holme. 
Printed for the Bandar Log Press at Phoenix, 
Arizona, December, 1903. 474 copies printed. 
This is number n ^ 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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